On Sunday 9 August 2020, the Soviet-style autocrat Aliaksandr Lukashenka was elected to a sixth term as president of Belarus. He has won every election since 1994 and has been the country’s leader for more than a quarter-century. Lukashenka or those loyal to him control all of the seats in the National Assembly. According to official results Lukashenka received 80% of all votes, but domestic observers and international monitors have labelled the elections neither free nor fair.  Many of the opposition candidates were denied the possibility of officially registering for the presidential election, and some of these individuals have been detained or fled Belarus. Among those detained is the husband of Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, herself an opposition candidate who was officially registered for the presidential election and who was Lukashenka’s top challenger. All of the presidential candidates, excluding Lukashenka, have filed appeals to the Central Election Committee of Belarus calling for the presidential election results to be invalidated due to allegations of widespread electoral fraud.
 
In the days leading up to the presidential election, ongoing protests against the Belarusian government and president Lukashenka were held in Minsk and other major Belarusian cities. In the aftermath of the contested election, demonstrators took to the streets to express their dissatisfaction with the election results. In Minsk the demonstrations turned violent; state authorities deployed disproportionate and unacceptable violence causing at least one death and many injuries. Over 6700  people have been detained and the crackdown on freedoms of assembly, media and expression has intensified.  Arrested protestors are beaten and humiliated before, during and after arrest. The detention cells that are intended for a handful of individuals filled with dozens of detainees who are subjected to a lack of water and facilities. Relatives are not provided with any information on those arrested. Yet, despite all this, protests continue and are a clear indication of the desire for change among many Belarusians. This yearning to bring an end to an autocratic regime is an act of self-assertion that places human rights and dignity above self-preservation.  It also places hope in the European Union, the UK and the US. 
 
Josep Borrell, the High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, has slammed the violence against protesters stating that the people of Belarus deserve better. They do indeed deserve better! An extraordinary EU foreign affairs meeting is scheduled for this Friday, 14 August, to discuss potential sanctions on Belarus. Discussions and sanctions are a start, but will they be enough? We call on the EU, the UK and the US to act decisively and to collectively impose sanctions that clearly indicate that Lukashenka’s regime has lost its legitimacy; that EU-UK-USA will only forge relationships with a representative Belarus government.